Aloha Gentle Reader,
In the many Maui weddings that I’ve done many, if not most, have had speeches.
I’m not against speeches. They can be heart warming and humorous. They can also be longwinded and dull.
At one of my weddings the speeches started with the best man, the maid of honor and then the floor (or mike) was open to anybody who wanted to say “a few words”. Many people grabbed the mike, but few of them limited their speech to “a few words”. (Everybody had a few cocktails in them by then.)
By the time the speeches were done, so was most of the evening.
There were a couple of problems that I saw with this way of doing things. The first is that while somebody is “holding forth” every polite person stops talking and listens. Fine if you’re in a lecture hall, not so good at a reception. The second is that the band, which cost the bride and groom a pretty penny, was on indefinite hold.
If it had been up to me, I would have limited the speeches to a few people and then ended them with the bride and groom thanking their guests for going to all the trouble of attending a destination wedding. I would even have gone so far as to ask those giving speeches to limit the time to no more than 5 minutes.
Speeches can be great if they aren’t over done.
Peace, sunsets and aloha from Maui,
Ellen
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